ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Accredits Houston Forensic Science Center under New Accreditation Program

The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) has accredited the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) to Property and Evidence Control Units (AR 3181). ANAB introduced the Accreditation for the Management and Operation of Property and Evidence Control Units in early 2023 and HFSC is the first organization to gain accreditation to this new program. This program supports the integrity of properly controlling property and evidence, while providing confidence and trust in the criminal justice system.

In recent news, there have been numerous cases of lost evidence, including firearms, video files, DNA samples, and more. The Property and Evidence Control Units Accreditation was developed to help combat these cases by providing organizations with a roadmap for reducing risk and ensuring greater accountability, and a benchmark to measure competency.

The program looks at how organizations, such as HFSC, are covering major areas in their operations, including structural, process, resource, and management system requirements. It goes without saying, controlling property and evidence is crucial to law enforcement and other criminal justice organizations to protect the evidence chain and minimize organizational risk. 

“HFSC is very pleased to be the first to achieve this accreditation. Even more we are very supportive of efforts to improve the quality of evidence for the entire criminal justice system. Evidence handling presents very real and significant risk to the entire system. We hope to be the first of many agencies to work to improve evidence in our criminal justice system,” said Peter Stout, HFSC President and CEO.  

“This accreditation of the HFSC represents the inaugural event for us here at ANAB in assisting our law enforcement partners to safeguard the chain of custody and greatly reduce the operational vulnerability to the agency.  I couldn’t be prouder of our team that worked countless hours with focus groups and law enforcement committees to build this property and evidence accreditation program.  All of us have a shared commitment to the continuous improvement of our criminal justice system.  We believe that our new accreditation program is the missing puzzle piece for law enforcement agencies to further protect their integrity and increase their trustworthiness with the citizens and communities they serve,” said Pam Sale, ANAB VP, Forensics.

Interested in learning more about ANAB’s Accreditation for the Management and Operation of Property and Evidence Control Units, visit ANAB at the upcoming National Sherriff’s Association – Winter Conference on February 3-6 in Washington, DC.

About HFSC

HFSC is a nonprofit registered 501(c)(3) and is responsible for providing forensic science services to the City of Houston.